Night Owl Chatterboxes - Part LV
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Originally posted by 16/f/lonely:
You know why???S'poreans are often reminded to speak proper engrish at all times when the govt fails to understand that the core of the problem lies with the command of engrish.
The entire country has adopted English as the official language of commerce and it's our first language. Compared to the other countries I mentioned, we have a better environment to grasp the language well, but sadly, we don't fare much better than them. Apart from sloth, there really is no reason why Singaporean youths can't have better standards of English.
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must be too much use of instant messenging, sms lingo and not enough reading outside of textbooks
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Ah well, what to do?
China = CMI.
Engrand also CMI.
Hokkien swear words then sibei tokong ar.
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come to think of it, sometimes people get annoyed with me because I sms in complete sentences lol
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Alright... I'm tucking myself into bed! I've got a massive headache for the past week now.
Thank goodness I'm off sick today and tomorrow! Good night and sweet dreams, everyone! -
Originally posted by Rhonda:
The entire country has adopted English as the official language of commerce and it's our first language. Compared to the other countries I mentioned, we have a better environment to grasp the language well, but sadly, we don't fare much better than them. Apart from sloth, there really is no reason why Singaporean youths can't have better standards of English.
errrr.... I think Singaporean youths do have better standards of English... If not, our 2rd language is bad - our 1st language is bad, hmmmmm..... there must be something strong in us lah... :p -
Sleeeeeeep-time.
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it's just like our dialect... seriously I dun think e kids these days can command good and relatively pure Teochew or Hokkien conversation
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Originally posted by av98m:
must be too much use of instant messenging, sms lingo and not enough reading outside of textbooks
It's quite awful, really. And if you think of it, it's actually harder, much harder for those Korean students to pick up fluent English because their native language uses a pattern that's totally in reverse to English, ie. their subject-verb-object is arranged in a totally different manner in their language, and therefore, they have to adapt to an entirely new system of expression altogether.
I cringe when I think about my ex-colleagues, all Singaporeans, who sat for the IELTS a few times, and failed. And then, there were the PRC's and Filipinos who sat for the same exam just ONCE, and passed well enough to apply for work in Australia. Bloody embarrassing, if you ask me.
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
The entire country has adopted English as the official language of commerce and it's our first language. Compared to the other countries I mentioned, we have a better environment to grasp the language well, but sadly, we don't fare much better than them. Apart from sloth, there really is no reason why Singaporean youths can't have better standards of English.
the problem is that when this became our "official" language, the class of good english speakers was still very small .. that meant that we had lots of half past six teachers teaching english ..... and it snowballed from there ...
even till today ... many of us are non-english speakers at home.... or singlish speakers ...
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Originally posted by ispyyy:
errrr.... I think Singaporean youths do have better standards of English... If not, our 2rd language is bad - our 1st language is bad, hmmmmm..... there must be something strong in us lah... :pJust go take a peek at the crap that's written in the forums. Also, listen to the loud Singaporean youngsters talk whilst on the buses and trains. I won't be so quick to defend the standard of English.
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time to sleep..
goodnight everyone
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I speak mandrain or dialects at home
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Originally posted by Fatum:
the problem is that when this became our "official" language, the class of good english speakers was still very small .. that meant that we had lots of half past six teachers teaching english ..... and it snowballed from there ...
even till today ... many of us are non-english speakers at home.... or singlish speakers ...
We can talk till the cows come home, and discuss about the Why's, but that won't improve the situation one bit. What's more important is for Singaporeans, esp the youths, to start understanding the vital importance of mastering the language, esp if we are to stay competitive in the international arena.
I'm not tackling the poor standard of English per se... I'm more appalled by the apparent lackadaisical attitude, the bo-chup attitude.
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
Just go take a peek at the crap that's written in the forums. Also, listen to the loud Singaporean youngsters talk whilst on the buses and trains. I won't be so quick to defend the standard of English.
well ... after spending some time among the ang mohs, I won't be so quick to defend their standards of english either ....
everyone seems to be going "I'm like .. I'm like"....
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Originally posted by av98m:
if the quality is high enough its not too bad...consider how much dating costs and you may not even get sexthats very cynical...
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Originally posted by sbst275:
I speak mandrain or dialects at home
I speak English at home, but when mom speaks in dialect, it's time to disappear from her sight!
There's nothing like cursing in Hokkien! Point is, you can be fluent in Mandarin and other dialects, and still be good in English.
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There's nothing good about us, period.
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Originally posted by Fatum:
well ... after spending some time among the ang mohs, I won't be so quick to defend their standards of english either ....
everyone seems to be going "I'm like .. I'm like"....
That's a slang, colloqualism. However, you won't hear them saying, "I goes to the market." or "I think she is going to done that."
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oh no ... we're good at rote learning ....
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Originally posted by Fatum:
well ... after spending some time among the ang mohs, I won't be so quick to defend their standards of english either ....
everyone seems to be going "I'm like .. I'm like"....
That's not as bad as chavism. There are some who can't differentiate between the spelling of 'there' and 'their', for instance.
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
There's nothing good about us, period.
Got! KPKB!!
And our sarong party girls are... good at their 'PR skills'!
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yep, i agree.. good doesn't even begin to describe me..
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Originally posted by Rhonda:
That's a slang, colloqualism. However, you won't hear them saying, "I goes to the market." or "I think she is going to done that."
Well, you read about 'Shakespeare in Chav-speak' a few days ago...
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Originally posted by Kuali Baba:
That's not as bad as chavism. There are some who can't differentiate between the spelling of 'there' and 'their', for instance.
If I pick the homeless / school dropout / drug addicts (not the white-collar casual drug abuser) / alcoholic here, their English grammar is crap too.
Thing is, compare an apple with an apple, ie. compare school-going youths of the same age group with each other.